Pittsburgh's Action News 4's Bob Hazen reports from Cranberry Township where all lanes of Route 228 and the ramps of I-79 have been reopened overnight thanks to work crews completing all neccesary repairs.

The road opened up shortly before midnight last night. that was two full days after a storm came through and broke nine power poles along the road, sending live wires down onto Route 228.

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The main reason it took so long to reopen was that a set of cable communications lines, three one-thousand foot sections of came down, each weighing 24 pounds per foot had to replaced and rehung. Officials are tuning their attention to how and why the poles, which were installed six months ago, snapped.

Route 228 is still closed after Tuesday night's strong thunderstorm knocked down utility poles and power lines, but the road was getting closer to reopening as repairs continued Thursday evening.

It's only about a half-mile of closed road, but the impact it has had on Cranberry Township is major.

"We're open, but a lot of people don't realize we're open or can't get to us," said Nick Koustis, owner of the Juniper Grill restaurant that sits beside the closed stretch of road. He said his dining room has been empty the last couple days, down about one-third of the business they usually have.

"We just bite the bullet and do the best we can. It's sad because the staff, they're working off of tips. We don't have sales, they don't make money either," Koustis said.

Route 228 has been closed between Cranberry Woods and Route 19 since Tuesday night. New poles are up, but crews are still stringing telephone and cable lines, and there's no telling how long that could take.

Consolidated Communications cables were knocked down along with the power poles. There are three roughly 1,000 foot-long cables, each weighing close to 24 pounds per foot. They are also filled with about 1,000 tiny cables that had to be repaired before the lines could be raised onto utility poles.

"Every individual one of those little telephone lines basically had to be spliced together, similar to tying a fishing fly," Cranberry Township police Sgt. Chuck Mascellino said.

The road won't open until all the lines are up.

"It depends on how long it takes them to get these lines raised," says Jeff Schueler, the township's public safety director. "The communication lines are pretty heavy: It's 24 pounds per foot of cable so it's pretty heavy to get it lifted."